'Faith changed my life, keeps me on track,' Catholic pop star says

BOCA RATON, Fla. (CNS/The Florida Catholic) - Fame brought drugs and the fast life for many pop stars decades ago, but for the singer known as Dion it also came with an emptiness and a voracious hunger for more.

"I was always seeking," said Dion DiMucci, now 67 years old and a member of St. Jude Parish in Boca Raton. "In the '60s, I used to pray, 'God, I want to know the truth. Why am I here? I am open and I am ready,'" he told The Florida Catholic, newspaper of the Palm Beach Diocese. "I had a powerful religious experience," he said. "It changed my life and I have never been the same since." DiMucci believes that experience has given him the secret to peaceful living and a good life, and he wants to share his insights with men and teen boys. So the artist, up for a Grammy for his latest album, "Bronx in Blue," does so at events in the Palm Beach Diocese, such as a Spiritual Rally for Men planned for March. DiMucci tells the story of how he began to reap great rewards along with career success when he slowed down and began to pray and study the teaching of the church and Christ. "To know Christ is very freeing and empowering," he said. "In my case, it has kept my family together." DiMucci is a lifelong Catholic from a big Italian family in the Bronx borough of New York City. He began his music career in the 1950s with Dion & the Belmonts, racking up hits including "I Wonder Why" and "A Teenager in Love." DiMucci went solo in the early 1960s rising to the top with hits such as "Runaround Sue" and "The Wanderer." He landed a spot on the album cover of the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in 1967. Once he embraced his Catholicism, his love of the faith led him into Christian music and five gospel albums. He was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and last year cut his blues and country release now up for awards. DiMucci describes his wife, Susan, as "very Catholic" and the heart of the family. Today, he pursues prison ministry and reaches out to men going through addiction recovery. "I love working with men," he said. "They are in search for truth but coming to accept it and living by it is a whole different thing. "Faith helps you focus, and prayer is the substance of my life. It is what keeps me on track. It keeps me hopeful and centered, and it gives me wisdom," he said.

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